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Vouching for cut-price sightseeing
By Nie Xin |
March 20, 2009, Friday
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AFTER a rocky start, Hangzhou's discount tourist voucher program has entered a new era with millions of coupons being distributed and hundreds of businesses involved. Nie Xin takes a tour.
Aiming to stimulate consumption, Hangzhou has been issuing various coupons since late January - travel coupons, consumption coupons, education and training coupons and health coupons.
Following Hangzhou, other cities including Nanjing, Sichuan Province's Chengdu and Guangdong Province's Guangzhou began to issue coupons.
The Hangzhou government began to distribute travel coupons in Shanghai on March 1. Some local tourists found some problems, such as complex procedure, when trying to use the coupons on visits to Hangzhou.
The Hangzhou Tourism Commission reacted quickly. Details of the new ways of using the coupons were announced at a press conference this Monday - more outlets added and simplified procedure.
With the coming tourist season, visitors with the coupons can enjoy sightseeing around Hangzhou more cheaply and conveniently.
According to the tourism authority, discount travel coupons worth 150 million yuan (US$22 million) will be issued. Each coupon is worth 10 yuan.
The coupons cover the Hangzhou City center, and its seven districts and counties, including Xiaoshan, Yuhang and Chun'an.
They are being distributed to domestic tourism markets, with the Yangtze River Delta as the main market. Travelers from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are also target customers.
The coupons are being distributed in different ways including direct mail-outs and "drop-in distribution." Hangzhou Tourism Commission is also working with organizations in other cities to arrange distribution outlets for the coupons.
Tourists with the coupons can use them in the major sightseeing venues of Hangzhou, such as the West Lake scenic area, the Xixi Wetland Park, the canal water buses, the Song City scenic area and the Leifeng Pagoda scenic area.
They can also enjoy quality art and cultural programs like "West Lake Impression," and go to commercial outlets including some teahouses and restaurants.
Coupon users can also participate in related lotteries. Lucky winners have a chance at winning major prizes such as residential apartments and cars.
Some tourists who first used the discount coupons in Hangzhou early this month found that the coupons were limited.
However, situation is improving. Many more restaurants have now been involved in the voucher program. Meanwhile, the coupons can now be used to get reduced admission at most scenic spots.
"As the expense of the coupons was half taken up by the commercial outlets and half by the Tourism Commission, the commercial outlets in the voucher program are volunteers," says Wang Xinzhang, vice director of the commission.
But the voucher program has not stopped growing. Up to March 16, Hangzhou travel coupons covered 818 retail outlets, from previous 507, including scenic spots, ship tickets, hotels, teahouses, restaurants and some entertainment venues.
"We hope that the coupons can cover sightseeing, hotels, transportation, and restaurants as much as possible in Hangzhou," says Wang. The latest list of participants can be found on the official Website of the commission.
To ensure the businesses are well-organized and can be recognized by tourists, Hangzhou Tourism Commission is going to print a guide showing all the businesses and their addresses. These booklets will be available for free at tourist centers, hotels and restaurants.
Those businesses will be assessed by the Tourism Commission. If there are any complaints, the Tourism Commission will investigate and may even disqualify them from accepting the discount coupons.
Before the new details were announced early this week, the procedure for using the coupons involved three steps, including filling a registration form, recording the number of the receipt and stamping the lottery ticket.
But now the procedure has been simplified to the last two steps and it takes half the time.
"Staff at these businesses are also being trained to make the procedure more efficient," says Wang.
An insurance policy worth 105,000 yuan has been added to the coupons making them even more valuable. Each visitor gets accidental death, or disability insurance worth 100,000 yuan and health insurance worth 5,000 yuan. The 1-yuan cost of the insurance is paid by the businesses.
Hangzhou Tourism Commission aims to attract 1 million tourists to Hangzhou and profits from the tourism will be worth 1 billion yuan.
"It's a reasonable estimate from our market research before the coupons were issued," says Chen Bin, director of Hangzhou Tourism Image Promotion Center. "From the feedback in the first week since the coupons went into use, we are confident that this can be achieved."Tips 1. The coupons are divided into two categories: one category can be used inside Hangzhou City; the other can be used in the other seven districts and counties within Hangzhou.
2. As more and more businesses in Hangzhou are joining the voucher program, upgraded information can be found on the official Website of Hangzhou Tourism Commission www.hangzhou.com.cn.
3. To participate in the related lotteries, tourists should fill in the coupons before using them. Receipts should also be preserved as proof for the lotteries.
4. Any questions or complaints, please dial (0571) 96123, or (0571) 8792-8540 for questions, and (0571) 8517-1292 for complaints.
Aiming to stimulate consumption, Hangzhou has been issuing various coupons since late January - travel coupons, consumption coupons, education and training coupons and health coupons.
Following Hangzhou, other cities including Nanjing, Sichuan Province's Chengdu and Guangdong Province's Guangzhou began to issue coupons.
The Hangzhou government began to distribute travel coupons in Shanghai on March 1. Some local tourists found some problems, such as complex procedure, when trying to use the coupons on visits to Hangzhou.
The Hangzhou Tourism Commission reacted quickly. Details of the new ways of using the coupons were announced at a press conference this Monday - more outlets added and simplified procedure.
With the coming tourist season, visitors with the coupons can enjoy sightseeing around Hangzhou more cheaply and conveniently.
According to the tourism authority, discount travel coupons worth 150 million yuan (US$22 million) will be issued. Each coupon is worth 10 yuan.
The coupons cover the Hangzhou City center, and its seven districts and counties, including Xiaoshan, Yuhang and Chun'an.
They are being distributed to domestic tourism markets, with the Yangtze River Delta as the main market. Travelers from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are also target customers.
The coupons are being distributed in different ways including direct mail-outs and "drop-in distribution." Hangzhou Tourism Commission is also working with organizations in other cities to arrange distribution outlets for the coupons.
Tourists with the coupons can use them in the major sightseeing venues of Hangzhou, such as the West Lake scenic area, the Xixi Wetland Park, the canal water buses, the Song City scenic area and the Leifeng Pagoda scenic area.
They can also enjoy quality art and cultural programs like "West Lake Impression," and go to commercial outlets including some teahouses and restaurants.
Coupon users can also participate in related lotteries. Lucky winners have a chance at winning major prizes such as residential apartments and cars.
Some tourists who first used the discount coupons in Hangzhou early this month found that the coupons were limited.
However, situation is improving. Many more restaurants have now been involved in the voucher program. Meanwhile, the coupons can now be used to get reduced admission at most scenic spots.
"As the expense of the coupons was half taken up by the commercial outlets and half by the Tourism Commission, the commercial outlets in the voucher program are volunteers," says Wang Xinzhang, vice director of the commission.
But the voucher program has not stopped growing. Up to March 16, Hangzhou travel coupons covered 818 retail outlets, from previous 507, including scenic spots, ship tickets, hotels, teahouses, restaurants and some entertainment venues.
"We hope that the coupons can cover sightseeing, hotels, transportation, and restaurants as much as possible in Hangzhou," says Wang. The latest list of participants can be found on the official Website of the commission.
To ensure the businesses are well-organized and can be recognized by tourists, Hangzhou Tourism Commission is going to print a guide showing all the businesses and their addresses. These booklets will be available for free at tourist centers, hotels and restaurants.
Those businesses will be assessed by the Tourism Commission. If there are any complaints, the Tourism Commission will investigate and may even disqualify them from accepting the discount coupons.
Before the new details were announced early this week, the procedure for using the coupons involved three steps, including filling a registration form, recording the number of the receipt and stamping the lottery ticket.
But now the procedure has been simplified to the last two steps and it takes half the time.
"Staff at these businesses are also being trained to make the procedure more efficient," says Wang.
An insurance policy worth 105,000 yuan has been added to the coupons making them even more valuable. Each visitor gets accidental death, or disability insurance worth 100,000 yuan and health insurance worth 5,000 yuan. The 1-yuan cost of the insurance is paid by the businesses.
Hangzhou Tourism Commission aims to attract 1 million tourists to Hangzhou and profits from the tourism will be worth 1 billion yuan.
"It's a reasonable estimate from our market research before the coupons were issued," says Chen Bin, director of Hangzhou Tourism Image Promotion Center. "From the feedback in the first week since the coupons went into use, we are confident that this can be achieved."Tips 1. The coupons are divided into two categories: one category can be used inside Hangzhou City; the other can be used in the other seven districts and counties within Hangzhou.
2. As more and more businesses in Hangzhou are joining the voucher program, upgraded information can be found on the official Website of Hangzhou Tourism Commission www.hangzhou.com.cn.
3. To participate in the related lotteries, tourists should fill in the coupons before using them. Receipts should also be preserved as proof for the lotteries.
4. Any questions or complaints, please dial (0571) 96123, or (0571) 8792-8540 for questions, and (0571) 8517-1292 for complaints.
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